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With only hours to live, a death-row inmate fights to free a chimpanzee from medical captivity
New York City 2024
WORLD PREMIERE
Desperate for a stay of execution, a death-row prisoner reenacts not his own murder trial but a case against the pharmaceutical industry to release their incarcerated primates. Arguing against forced medical experimentation on all prisoners, he exposes a brutal system that renders both humans and animals expendable.
Writer, director, and performer Kevin Augustine pulls the audience into a visceral empathy experiment, inviting them to bring his primate puppets to life on stage. Blending courtroom drama, puppetry, and personal testimony, the piece asks what state sponsored captivity does to the soul of any species.
"The People vs. Nature is a richly imagined and vividly realized exploration of the limits and possibilities of rethinking our relationship with other animals, and in finding common bonds between us through trauma and redemption. By engaging the audience in shaping how we respond to the puppets, The People vs. Nature shows us that compassion is not an abstraction but a literally hands-on commitment. The Culture & Animals Foundation is delighted to have sponsored this telling drama of an individual's vision of liberation for all encaged beings."—Martin Rowe, Executive Director, Culture & Animals Foundation
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